


when the world is running down (you make the best of what's still around)

by caskettcase



Category: Elyza Lex (Fanverse), The 100 (TV)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Queer the walking dead - Freeform, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Zombies, ill try to keep the angst to a minimum we had enough of that, lexark, thanks jflop we hate you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-04-28
Packaged: 2018-05-28 00:47:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6307153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caskettcase/pseuds/caskettcase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elyza Lex was always looking for adventure. And from the first few seconds she made eye contact with the girl, she had a feeling she’d just found it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I tripped and fell in love with Commander Lexa and Clexa. Then I got my heart ripped out. Lexark's trying to help me put it back together. 
> 
> aka
> 
> if you told me a month ago, I'd be reading (let alone writing) a zombie apocalypse fic, I would have thought you were crazy.
> 
> \--
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own FTWD or Alicia Clark or any of these characters, but we all collectively own Elyza Lex, let's not even joke about that. Title taken from the song of the same name by The Police.

The only sound aside from the thrum of four small wheels whirring against the pavement as Elyza flew down the middle of the street was the constant drone of the walkers. In some parts of the city, they’d almost become like cicadas—a constant nuisance that eventually just had to be drowned out.

Certainly not what Elyza Lex had planned on doing by the time she was 20 years old, trying to drown out the sound of the walking dead each night when she fell asleep.

A cigarette hung lazily out of her mouth as she tightened both her hands around the aluminum baseball bat in her hands, a leg reaching down to the pavement and pushing off, giving her momentum as she came upon a tall man, eyes dead and body too, moving at a glacial pace toward her, hungry for a bite.

Elyza balanced herself carefully on the skateboard, shifting her weight just so to give her enough power behind the swing but not tip herself over. She timed it perfectly, winding up and swinging through, connecting with the walker’s skull and sending blood everywhere as the body collapsed on the ground.

She continued riding without so much as a glance over her shoulder, plucking the cigarette from her lips and puffing the smoke out in a sigh, mumbling the lyrics of “Another One Bites the Dust” under her breath.

Elyza leaned, rounding a corner effortlessly as she continued riding around, eyes darting around the neighborhood, scouting for any potential places to stay.

She didn’t ask for this—being alone, trying to single-handedly destroy a hoard of people infected with some crazy virus that was throwing the whole world into Armageddon. But then again, who would ask for that?

But she had asked for adventure. It was all Elyza had wanted since she’d boarded a plane from Australia to LA when she turned 18, alongside her foster siblings Lindsay, Rob, and Mary, along with Mary’s boyfriend Ricky.

And adventure she had gotten.

Elyza had been accepted to Stanford—it was really the only reason that Abby and Marcus let her leave in the first place—they all had made a pact with their foster parents to go to college.

The other four had opted to stay in Los Angeles and attend UCLA, and after a year of being separated from the only family she’d known, Elyza wasn’t too keen on staying in a place where she often felt ostracized for her (lack of) social status.

So she’d dropped out, taken a bus back to LA, and moved in to a college house with her friends.

No.

Family.

She had every intention of going back to school, probably join the rest of the bunch at UCLA, but she’d never gotten around to it.

And now, as Elyza boarded by a now abandoned high school, she hated herself a little bit for it.

She’d never be able to go back now. The world was literally ending around her.

Instead of pursuing art or music like she’d wanted to, she would happily take her degree in survival.

Funny how quickly things changed.

Being as independent as she was when she was younger certainly came in handy now though. Since this whole damn thing started about a month ago, she’d gotten separated from her siblings amidst the chaos. She worried for them constantly but never for herself. Elyza Lex was nothing if not a survivor, completely capable of being on her own, always the girl in grade school labelled the tom boy, always the kid starting scuffles with people twice her size, always _beating_ people twice her size in said fights.

They’d find each other eventually. Elyza believed that. They always found their way back to each other.

She took another drag from the cigarette, pushing her aviators back up the bridge of her nose as they began to sink down against the slick of the sweat now covering her body. Leather jackets probably weren’t the most conducive outer wear in the rising spring heat of California, but she couldn’t find it in herself enough to care to take it off.

Instead she just kept riding, head on a swivel, rounding another corner.

Suddenly, she swore she heard the sound of someone screaming, and her head jerked back behind her to try to get a feel at where it was coming—

Elyza couldn’t tell if the “oof” she heard was coming from her own mouth or the body she’d just collided with, and she fell in a mess of tangled limbs, sunglasses flying off, cigarette crushed on the ground beneath her outer thigh, skateboard rolling off into the distance, and her hand on a heavily breathing stomach.

Her eyes raked up quickly until they met the wide, terrified gaze of an absolutely gorgeous green-eyed brunette.

Elyza Lex was always looking for adventure.

And from the first few seconds she made eye contact with the girl, she had a feeling she’d just found it.

\-----

With the sounds of screaming and the bullet erupting from the trigger that Travis stood behind still in her ears, she’d run.

Her mom had called out after her and Nick had made a half-hearted attempt to slow her down, too overcome with his own shock to really try.

But she kept running.

Griselda. Liza. _Matt._

It’d barely been a month since the world around her had started burning to the ground, and already three people she knew (and loved) were gone.

Alicia, once quiet and observant, couldn’t take anymore.

So she ran.

Nothing had been okay since her father had died.

Nothing ever seemed like it would be okay again.

Maybe if she just kept running…

She’d either find a merciful death or find something worth fighting for.

Alicia ripped the oversized flannel from her body, wrapping it around her waist and tightening as she came to a stop near her abandoned high school, hands on her knees, breathing heavily from her exertion. She had no idea how long she’d been running, but she knew by now she’d ended up at least a couple miles from where she’d begun.

A lump in her throat came out of nowhere and choked her, crippling her, and she dropped to her knees, tears stinging her eyes and her stomach rolling.

She couldn’t get any of it out of her head—Su-Su’s lifeless body reaching out for blood, the sting of the needle as she’d tattooed the only reminder she had of Matt, the suicide letter, the utter chaos all around the city as the Guard had stepped in, the screams that followed the gunshot outside the Strand house, oh god, the screams…

The bile rose in her throat without warning and without even trying to hold it back, Alicia vomited onto the sidewalk beneath her, tears blurring her vision and body shaking.

She had nowhere to go.

Any other day, before all this, her method of just leaving and being alone until she could cool down was fine. Now, her instinct had put her in danger.

 _God, for someone who’d wanted to go to Berkeley, she was a damn idiot sometimes_ , she chastised herself.

The unmistakable squall of a walker pierced her ears, and she peered up to see one approaching her.

She froze only momentarily before she did what she did best.

She ran.

Down an alley and cutting left only to be met by another pair of dead eyes. She screamed, racing down another alleyway between two buildings and back toward the high school, neck craned around to keep note of the distance between her and the walker.

She ran into something suddenly, heart leaping in her chest when she realized it was a person—could very well be one of the infected. Her back hit the pavement, a mess of blonde hair streaking across her field of vision and a hand resting on her stomach for support.

The blonde shook her hair out of her face, peering down at Alicia with piercing blue eyes.

Before Alicia could make a remark about watching where she was going, the wailing of the walker that had been chasing her was upon them.  The blonde removed her hand from Alicia’s stomach, reaching back toward her hip and reflexively removing a pistol, cocking it and pulling the trigger before Alicia even had a chance to process.

Blood and brains flew in the air around them, and Alicia ducked to avoid the spray.

She finally looked up a few moments later, seeing the blonde woman breathing hard, gun still poised in the air, a few stray drops of blood staining her face.

“Thank you,” Alicia finally choked out.

The blonde put her gun back on her hip, letting out a sigh.

“Lex. Elyza Lex,” she offered, extending a hand to Alicia, which she gently took.

“Thank you, Elyza.”

The intensity of the moment now diffused, Elyza let a wry smile grace her face.

“And you are?” she drawled, letting her husky Australian accent do the work.

So what if it was the end of the world? Didn’t mean she couldn’t flirt with a pretty girl.

“Alicia. Alicia Clark.”

Elyza smiled at her, rising to her feet and collecting her sunglasses from the pavement. “Alrighty then, Ali, might be best we stick together.”

Alicia furrowed her brows, ignoring the hand that Elyza offered her to help her up, pushing herself up off the ground.

“Don’t call me that.”

Elyza broke into a grin.

“Feisty. You’ll be useful.”

“Who said I wanted to come with you?”

“I don’t see anyone else coming to your rescue,” Elyza replied, not missing a beat.

Alicia didn’t understand how someone could be so… _cool_ amidst everything going on around them.

It was disarming.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Alicia said, shrugging and dusting off the bits of the asphalt that had clung to her clothes.

“And let such a pretty face go to waste? Nah, girls like you don’t deserve to be eaten.”

Alicia shot the mysterious blonde woman a glare, getting annoyed with her devil-may-care attitude.

But Elyza just smirked and then continued, in a lower voice, “Well, they do, just in a much more fun way.”

Alicia’s eyes widened instantly. _Oh._

She’d lived in Los Angeles her whole life and was no stranger to being around a diverse amount of people.

But even as much as this Elyza Lex woman was grating her patience, Alicia had to admit that was the smoothest way of coming out to someone she’d ever heard.

When Alicia didn’t reply right away, Elyza went on.

“I’m rather into the fairer sex. Hope that’s not a problem.”

“I-I- no, of course not. Why would-”

Elyza let out a chuckle at this, digging the heel of her boot into the cigarette that had fallen to the ground during their fall. “Breathe, buttercup. I’m giving you a hard time. Now let’s get out of here before more walkers find us.”

Alicia only clenched her jaw as Elyza began strolling down the street to pick up the skateboard that had gone rogue when Alicia had toppled into her.

“I suppose so,” Alicia muttered, not loud enough for Elyza to hear.

The blonde turned around, skateboard under her arm now, a baseball bat in the other hand balancing over her shoulder.

“So you coming with?”

The look in Elyza’s eyes was almost hopeful, softer than the cocky glint she’d had just moments earlier.

Elyza was clearly skilled with a gun (and a bat) and who knew what other weapons.

If she wanted to survive, having the girl tag along might not be the worst idea.

Might provide a good buffer between her and her family for a bit, too.

“Fine.”

And there was that cocky grin again.

“Splendid. It’ll be nice to have something nicer to look at than bloody bodies everywhere.”

Alicia rolled her eyes and snapped, “Try to keep it in your pants, though, please.”

Elyza shot the brunette an intrigued look, a smirk gracing her lips as she seemed to realize, _oh, she’s got teeth after all._

Alicia wasn’t used to anyone but Nick going toe-to-toe with her. She’d made her wit her arsenal, sarcasm her weapon. And she could usually shut just about anyone down.

But Elyza Lex didn’t seem to want to back down.

Alicia was intrigued by her, at the very least.

“No promises.”

Alicia rolled her eyes. “I’ll change my mind.”

“No you won’t.”

“Oh?”

“You need me,” Elyza replied confidently, her blue eyes boring straight into Alicia.

Alicia only paused for a second before quirking an eyebrow and shrugging.

“I barely know you.”

Another cocky smile from Elyza.

“Well, it’s a good thing we’ve got plenty of time to get to know each other on accounts of the world has seemed to stop turning for the apocalypse.”

Alicia rolled her eyes and mumbled, “Maybe I should just go back to my family.”

The invitation was unspoken, but she knew Elyza would pick up on it.

“Then let’s go, buttercup. You can tell me your story, and we’ll find them together.”

Alicia rolled her eyes one last time before jerking her head in the direction she’d come from, beckoning Elyza to follow.

So much for running.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is basically just these two idiots teasing each other and getting on each other's nerves, because that's what I live for.

“So where are you from?” Alicia asked finally as the two walked, having fallen into an awkward silence.

Elyza quirked an eyebrow, responding, “The accent doesn’t make it obvious?”

Alicia only rolled her eyes and huffed out a sigh, shooting a glare at Elyza.

“Do you want me to try and make civil conversation with you or not?”

Oh, this Alicia girl was cheeky. And Elyza quickly decided then that she quite enjoyed it.  She peered over at Alicia with a smirk and offered, “From Melbourne originally. You?”

“Lived in LA my whole life.”

Elyza nodded, indulging the girl (and herself) in the small talk.

“Been in LA for just over a year.”

“What brought you here?”

“College. Stanford originally, but I dropped out,” Elyza replied casually.

Alicia’s head jerked and her eyes widened suddenly, coming to a stop for a moment next to Elyza.

“Why would you leave Stanford?” she asked incredulously.

She grit her teeth just the slightest bit, fists clenching. She’d hated the constant berating from her siblings when she’d first told them she was leaving Stanford for them, and she didn’t hate it any less now. Elyza was a protector. She needed to stick by her siblings’ sides, and she had felt out of place anyway. Elyza just turned to her and shrugged.

“Missed the rest of my family.”

“So you all moved over here?”

“No,” Elyza answered. “Just my siblings. Foster siblings. There’s four of us. Rob, Mary, Lindsay, and me. And then Mary’s boyfriend Ricky came too.”

Elyza saw the brunette’s eyes flash something—confusion, surprise, something. Like she was realizing that Elyza wasn’t necessarily the bulletproof person she’d made herself out to be at first glance. That “mysterious zombie killer” was just the tip of the iceberg.

(Elyza hadn’t let anyone see that in awhile, let alone a girl she’d known for an hour.)

“Oh.”

Elyza tensed up again. For all her pomp and circumstance, she hated talking about herself. She’d admit to using parts of her life to weave together a sob story to make girls fawn over her when she was younger, but she’d been young and dumb, and honestly, it was a little desperate. But now she just relied on cheesy pick-up lines and her accent.

She had no idea why she was talking to Alicia so freely.

She knew that everyone found people that they just instantly connected with, wanted to share their souls with, but she hadn’t ever really had that.

She hadn’t ever really wanted that.

And now a green-eyed 17 year old with legs a mile long was slipping past her defenses all too easily.

What was stranger was that Elyza couldn’t bring herself to care as much as she wanted.

“Yeah. Parents didn’t want me. Don’t know much about them. Got passed around a bit as a kid and ended up with Marcus and Abby when I was eight. The four of us have stayed together ever since. And then we all came here, and I decided to be the big shot and go to Stanford. And then I came back. Was going to go back to school with them but never got around to it.”

“Where did the rest of them go?”

“They all went to UCLA. They’re juniors this year. Or they were. Education isn’t exactly the main concern right now, I think.”

She felt Alicia staring at her out of the corner of her eye as they kept walking. Honestly, Elyza didn’t even know why Alicia was so curious about her in the first place. She’d sass her one minute and probe about her family the next.

It’d been an hour. She’d only been on the rollercoaster that was this Alicia Clark girl for an hour, and it was making her dizzy. It really didn’t hurt that she was incredibly good-looking. And for someone who claimed to be straight, she sure seemed to enjoy her flannel.

Elyza shook the stupid thought away as soon as it came. If there was one thing she wouldn’t do, it was be dumb enough to fall for a straight girl.

Even dumber to fall for someone at all.

 _Love is weakness. Love is weakness. Love is weakness._ It was a saying she remembered hearing growing up back in Australia from her martial arts instructor, Titus. Marcus and Abby hadn’t approved of such a harsh teaching style, but Elyza and the rest of her siblings had carried on. But none of them took that mantra to heart like Elyza had.

Somewhere along the line, between being passed around to four different families before Marcus and Abby, being an outsider and a troublemaker at school, she’d decided that love being weakness was easier to believe.

“So,” she heard Alicia’s voice pierce through her thoughts. “What happened to them? Why aren’t you with them?”

Elyza could tell the girl was nervous to ask, afraid that they were dead and that she’d just struck a nerve.

“We got separated at the beginning of it all. I have no idea where they are.”

Alicia nodded carefully, thoughtfully, and Elyza wondered if maybe the brunette was seeking that same human connection she hadn’t seemed to be able to find. She wondered if maybe the past month had brought Alicia loss as well.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Elyza shrugged again, steeling herself. “They’re survivors. We all are. They’ll be okay.”

“Have you tried to find them?”

She could add curious to the list of things that Alicia was. Hot, sassy, and curious to a fault.

A combination Elyza was quickly finding herself ill-equipped to deal with.

She shut down a little further. Elyza had done her best not to think about where her people had ended up, about if they were even alive. They had to be. They always made it. There was no reason to worry.

“Been a little too focused on surviving right now to even try, Princess. But maybe soon,” Elyza grumbled.

When Alicia didn’t reply right away, she looked over at her, seeing the brunette staring straight ahead, her jaw clenched.

“Don’t call me that,” she finally mumbled.

“Hmm?”

“Princess,” she spat. “Don’t call me that. I’m not your princess.”

She liked Alicia. But she also liked pushing people’s buttons.

“Really? Pretty girl living in LA her whole life leading me toward the beach to find her family? I’m sure you’ve had it really rough.”

(She pushed too hard.)

Alicia wheeled around, stopping Elyza from walking forward anymore.

Alicia met her eyes, bright and angry and piercing.

“You don’t know a damn thing about me, Elyza.”

Elyza fought back a smirk, wondering if it was inappropriate and she’d hit a nerve with Alicia or if the girl was just tired and cranky from the heat.

“Well, sharing is caring, _Alicia,”_ Elyza responded, stepping around her and continuing to walk.

Alicia didn’t follow, though, and after a few steps, Elyza turned around again to see the girl just standing there, arms crossed, considering Elyza carefully.

“Dad died in a car accident a few years ago. Older brother started doing drugs to deal with it. And now? Since this all began? I’ve lost several people I know. My mother’s boyfriend’s ex-wife, my neighbor, one of the women in our group, _my boyfriend._ All in less than a month. Don’t you dare think you know a thing about me because I guarantee you don’t. My family is fractured. The world is in shambles. And I have no one who understands what it feels like.”

Oh.

So they weren’t so different after all.

Elyza honestly hadn’t been able to place Alicia at first—usually she was pretty good at getting a read on people, but Alicia was a different story. She wasn’t some rich stuck-up drama queen like some of the girls she’d been tangled up with.

She was a lot like Elyza.

She was just broken.

Since she’d moved to America, she hadn’t exactly made many friends outside of her family. At least, no one worth keeping as friends for longer than college lasted. No one had bothered to take an interest in her, and she hadn’t bothered to take an interest in anyone else.

No one ever seemed to want Elyza to take an interest in them any way other than physically usually. And she’d been fine with that.

But the apocalypse sure was lonely.

“I do,” she answered softly.

“I swear to God if this is some sly way to try and pick me up—”

“Alicia.”

Elyza wasn’t sure was possessed it, but she had reached out to the girl and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, interrupting her quickly.

“I’m sorry.”

Alicia glared at the hand resting on her shoulder and stepped away, so Elyza continued.

“I know that doesn’t help. I know what it’s like to get the pitiful looks and the fake empathy. I’m not going to sit here and pretend I know exactly how you feel. Because it varies from person to person. But in general? Yeah, I think I know. I’m not exactly the kind of person who likes to depend on anyone else either. That doesn’t come from me just being prideful. That comes from being abandoned too many times to count. So I don’t like to get attached.”

She watched as Alicia slowly relaxed as she continued to talk.

“So I’m sorry for offending you. And if you want me to help take you back and then leave you alone, I understand. But—”

_Love is weakness._

She hated herself just a little bit for being willing to be so honest with Alicia.

But she didn’t quiet hate it enough.

“If you need someone, I’m here.”

People said that kind of shit all the time. It’d never actually come to fruition. They had more pressing matters to attend to than talking about feelings.

Alicia smiled wryly and answered, “I thought you just said you don’t like to get attached to people.”

Or, maybe Alicia would call her bluff for as long as she stuck around.

“The world is ending, Buttercup. The hell have I got to lose?”

But just like she wanted to believe that telling Alicia she was here for her was an empty promise, Elyza knew this was a thinly veiled lie too. She had a lot to lose. On one hand, they could both be dead tomorrow. No harm, no foul. On the other hand, getting attached to someone when people were dying left and right would surely only confirm what she already had known to be true for twenty years.

_Love is weakness._

But the damn girl was smiling back at her, genuinely smiling, and Elyza couldn’t ignore that she felt more at peace than she had in weeks.

So she quickly added, “Besides, I’m willing to make an exception for someone as gorgeous as you.”

Flirty, harmless, even a little raunchy banter she could do. Anything further? Any actual attachment. Would only lead her down a path to pain.

But Alicia only rolled her eyes at the comment, confidently stepping closer to Elyza.

Two could play the flirty banter game.

“You do realize I said I had a _boyfriend_ , right?”

Elyza grinned, leaning in just a bit, trying to ignore how the color of Alicia’s eyes were making her heart beat a little faster. “Like I said,” she whispered. “The world is ending, Buttercup. The hell have I got to lose?”

Yes, this she could do. The harmless flirting was more than enough.

“You’re insufferable.”

“You need me,” Elyza shot back, met with another eye roll from Alicia.

“That’s the only reason I’m letting you tag along.”

“Ah, so you admit it.”

Another eye roll and a not-at-all-threatening glare.

“I’m just trying to survive. You seem smart enough to know how to do that.”

Elyza only chuckled and replied, “You really know how to make a girl feel special, Clark.”

Alicia snorted in response and continued walking, but Elyza couldn’t help but smile. She would gladly continue making this girl laugh as much as she could.

“Are you coming, or not?”

Elyza refocused, looking ahead to see Alicia turned around and waiting for her. Apparently, in her daydreaming, she must have stopped walking.

So she followed after her, and she silently berated herself for the the unbidden thought that she knew she’d probably already be willing to follow this mysterious, witty brunette wherever she wanted her to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these poor things don't stand a chance against each other. kudos, comments, etc?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> elyza meets the family. alicia's totally not jealous.

It only took another fifteen minutes for them to arrive back at the pier where the Abigail, Strand, and everyone else were waiting, Elyza and Alicia having traded sarcastic remarks the entire way.

Alicia had been begging for a fresh face to join them since this had begun. Having Ofelia and Daniel and Strand made for something different, and she’d become good friends with Ofelia, but still, she couldn’t help like there was something missing.

It was far-fetched, and Alicia immediately chastised herself for it, but she couldn’t help but wonder if that something was maybe Elyza.

Alicia could already tell they were a lot alike in some ways—using sarcasm as a defense mechanism to keep people out as much as possible. And Alicia also knew that when she found someone who could match her in that, she’d be thoroughly fucked.

(The only people who remotely kept up with her were Nick and Matt.)

Alicia bristled when she thought again of Elyza calling her _princess,_ how she’d shut it down immediately.

She didn’t have the bravery to tell Elyza that that was what her father used to call her when she was younger and hoped her derisive tone had been enough to dissuade the blonde.

The pier came into view, and she could see the group standing on the end, waiting, Travis and Madison looking around wildly, probably looking for her.

“Alicia!” Madison called out as the two came into view, Madison running to her daughter and catching her in a hug.

“Mom!”

Alicia sunk into her mother’s embrace without a fight, tired from all the distance she’d covered running and walking today already. And as much as she was shaken by everything that was happening, and how out of place she felt around everyone sometimes, Alicia couldn’t help but still crave the affection of her mother.

“Thank God,” Travis said as he approached. “We’ve been wondering where you were for hours. Come on, we need to get out of here. Go get on the boat.”

Travis began to usher Alicia and Madison down toward the Abigail, Elyza awkwardly shifting her weight a few feet behind.

Alicia stood her ground, pulling away from Travis. She’d told Elyza she could come with, and that meant onto the boat too, she’d hoped.

 _You can’t save everyone,_ she’d said.

And she couldn’t. But she could at least give people a fair shot.

Besides, Elyza would only help them survive.

Madison peered behind her daughter to see the blonde standing, waiting patiently.

“Wait—sweetie, who’s this?”

Elyza immediately perked up at being acknowledged, putting on a charming smile and offering, “Elyza Lex, professional walker slayer at your service.”

She nodded to Madison politely and reached out a hand for Travis to shake.

“Elyza. Nice to meet you,” he replied, taking her hand tentatively but then immediately turning back to Alicia, who was in no hurry to move without Elyza. “Come on, Alicia, go get on the boat.”

Travis tried to nudge her toward the end of the dock, but Alicia pushed away and looked at Elyza.

“Travis, wait.”

Understanding that he was already in a precarious position when it came to how Alicia felt about him, he stepped back from Alicia, allowing her to speak.

“Elyza saved my life,” she started, going back to stand next to the girl.

Elyza smiled and nodded, losing a bit of her bravado as Madison and Travis considered her carefully. (Alicia barely held back the smirk as she saw the slight tension in the girl she’d seen be nothing but confident in the couple hours they’d been together.)

“No big deal. Kind of her fault actually. She rammed into me while I was riding down the street. Was trying to run away from a walker, so I shot the bugger. All in a day’s work.”

“Thank you, Elyza,” Madison offered.

Elyza again replied with a gracious smile and nod.

Clearly Alicia was going to have to force the issue a little bit, her mother not seeming eager to give Elyza any more praise than “thank you.”

But Alicia only rolled her eyes and asked in an annoyed tone, “That’s all you’re going to say? Thank you?”

“Sweetie, what do you want me to do?”

Alicia jerked her head toward Elyza, then back toward the boat, her meaning obvious.

“Alicia—”

But Travis broke in before Madison could finish. “Elyza, are you alone?”

Alicia widened her eyes at her mother’s boyfriend, surprised to see he’d taken any interest in what was going on.

“Got separated from my group at the beginning of all this. Been on my own since.”

Travis snuck a smile at Alicia, who continued to watch him skeptically.

The guy was awkward, and annoying as hell sometimes, but he was doing a pretty good job of redeeming himself suddenly.

“You good with a gun?”

“Travis,” Madison scolded, knowing that he was about to make a case for Elyza to join them.

Elyza smirked, as if the idea that someone was fighting for her to come with suddenly had sparked new life in her. “And a baseball bat. And a knife. I play the ukulele too.”

Alicia tried to fight the quirk of her lips that came with Elyza’s last comment and failed.

Travis turned to his girlfriend then and said, “Maddie, we could really use her—”

“Is there even enough room on the boat?”

Elyza shifted again this time, looking anywhere but at Alicia, who was now watching her, as if silently willing her to speak up.

“Look, I don’t want to inconvenience you,” she said, finally looking up at Travis and Madison.

“No, Elyza. You should come with us. We could use you, it sounds like. And it’s the least we can do to thank you for bringing Alicia back safely.”

“Travis, we’ve already got—”

Alicia just rolled her eyes again and spoke up.

“Mom, you’re really just going to let her go off on her own?”

At that, Elyza shot Alicia a daring look, as if to say, _really?_ _You’re the ones who need me._

“I can fend for myself, sweetheart.”

Alicia just shook her head, silently willing Elyza to shut up and try to convince Madison to let her come with.

“You’re the one who wanted us to stick together.”

“You’re the one who almost got herself bit.”

Alicia rolled her eyes again, the meaning obvious.

_You need me._

And she wouldn’t say it out loud, but they did.

“Look, I won’t force myself onto you guys, but if you do have room for one more, I wouldn’t mind joining up. I promise I’ll make myself useful,” Elyza explained.

Madison continued to watch the girl disapprovingly while Travis considered her carefully before turning to Madison and Elyza.

“Alicia?” he called. “It’s up to you. She’s your stray.”

Elyza shot a smirk at Travis. Maybe this guy wasn’t too bad.

So Alicia took the chance. If nothing else, Elyza would keep her alive and entertained. And probably incredibly annoyed sometimes.

But they could use someone like her.

“Welcome aboard, Elyza.”

Madison looked disapprovingly toward her daughter and Travis again, but Alicia just smirked as she kept her eyes on Elyza, who was now grinning back at the brunette.

“Can’t wait to meet the rest of the clan.”

\--

Alicia followed Madison and Travis onto the superyacht, surveying the surroundings as she hadn’t gotten much of a chance earlier. It was huge—even bigger than she’d thought, and fancier.

Strand was pulling everything together, getting ready to leave the shore, and Travis and Alicia led Elyza to the others to introduce her.

“Guys, this is Elyza. She kept Alicia safe while she was gone and has great survival skills, so she’ll be joining us.”

Daniel nodded in approval, considering the girl carefully, eyes fixing on the gun and knives she had strapped to her belt. Ofelia looked to Alicia with a _what’s her story?_ Look, and Alicia just ignored her. Chris, and Nick just looked at her awaiting her to speak.

“Elyza,” Travis continued. “This is Madison’s son, Nick, and my son, Chris.”

“Elyza Lex. Nice to meet you,” she greeted, reaching a hand out toward Chris first, that trademark smirk and her bravado clearly back.

“I-I-hi there,” Chris fumbled, reaching out a hand, trying to peel his eyes away from Elyza’s chest.

“Eyes are up here, sweet cheeks,” Elyza commented, smirking all the more.

“I’m sorry I didn’t—”

Alicia couldn’t help but laugh at the awkward exchange, and at the same time felt terrible for Chris. He was clearly still in shock of what had just happened to Liza, and as much as she wished Elyza wasn’t teasing him, it was hilarious. And it seemed to even be making Chris laugh a little too.

“It’s okay. Hate to ruin your fantasy so soon, but you’re not exactly my type. I prefer these too (motions to her breasts).”

Chris broke into a smile at that, laughing nervously but genuinely, and Nick starting snickering next to him, while Madison choked on the water she was drinking. Elyza stole a glance at Alicia and shot a wink at her.

Alicia ignored the stutter of her heart at that. 

“Looks like someone’s finally going to give the Sass Queen a run for her money,” Nick commented.

“Sass Queen?” Elyza asked, again looking at Alicia with an amused look and a raised eyebrow.

“You telling me that Alicia didn’t tear you apart with her snark?” Nick asked.

“Oh, no, I’ve gotten very well acquainted with that in the past hour or so. At least I won’t be bored.”

“Hard to be bored when there’s an apocalypse happening,” Alicia replied in a snarky tone.

Elyza lowered her voice so only Chris, Alicia and Nick could hear, as she said, staring straight at Alicia with her piercing blue eyes, “Hard to be bored when I get to look at you.”

Nick bust out laughing again, and Alicia smacked him on the arm and gave him a glare.

Elyza was just the same as her in another way—she was fearless when she had a crowd behind her laughing at her jokes. And clearly the harmless flirting wasn’t going to go anywhere.

“Elyza,” Travis interrupted. “These are the Salazaars—Daniel and Ofelia.”

Alicia noticed Elyza’s eyes rake over her friend’s body quickly, taken in the sight of the attractive woman. She nodded a hello to Daniel and turned her attention back to Ofelia.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Elyza said in a lower, huskier voice like the one she’d just used on Alicia.

So apparently no one was immune to the flirting.

Ofelia smiled back, answering in a flirtatious tone, “You as well.”

Alicia’s mouth fell open as she saw her friend play into Elyza’s game and rolled her eyes.

She wasn’t jealous.

Not at all.

She didn’t even like girls.

It was just…uncomfortable.

She just wanted Elyza to be paying attention to her, and not Ofelia, for some reason.

But she wasn’t jealous.

Ofelia glanced from Elyza over to Alicia, who was still glaring at the two of them, and realizing she’d been caught, Alicia quickly looked away.

Travis came over to break the tense moment by asking Elyza to come help Strand set up everything before they left, leaving Alicia and Ofelia standing by themselves.

“So Elyza, huh?” Ofelia prompted once the girl was out of earshot.

“Yes?”

“She liiiikes you.”

Alicia rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction internally. Elyza had been blatantly flirting with Ofelia but still thought that Elyza only had eyes for her.

“What makes you say that?”

“You met her a couple hours ago, and she’s literally already drooling over you.”

Alicia fought the blush that she knew was threatening to creep up her cheeks.

“She likes anything with two legs and boobs, Ofelia,” she replied dismissively.

“She’s confident. I like it.”

“She’s something,” Alicia mumbled.

“Not your type?”

“I don’t think girls are really my type,” Alicia replied coolly.

Ofelia only smirked and waggled her eyebrows. “Nothing like the end of the world for a little experimenting.”

Alicia’s cheeks burned red at that. Was it really that obvious that Elyza had a thing for her? She barely knew the girl, and she didn’t mind the attention but…

“No, god, never—”

“I was actually talking about me.”

Alicia clamped her mouth shut and turned away from Ofelia.

The strange feeling in the pit of her stomach from early (that was _not_ jealousy) was back.

She turned back to see that the Abigail had just left the dock. Maybe if she had time she could still throw Elyza back and not have to deal with any of this.

“I mean, if she ever stopped staring at you,” Ofelia interrupted. “And only if you were cool with it.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? But good luck finding privacy on a boat.”

She wasn’t being defensive. She wasn’t jealous.

She just didn’t want two of her friends fucking on a boat and have to be subjected to listening to that.

If she could even call Elyza her friend.

Whatever.

“Ehh, just something I might consider down the line. Might get a little lonely on here, you know?”

“You’re seriously considering sleeping with her? You met her an hour ago.”

Ofelia shrugged. “End of the world. Things move fast.”

“You don’t even like girls,” Alicia shot back, with a little more bite than she intended.

“I don’t know that.

Alicia looked over at Ofelia, tilting her head, silently asking her to explain.

“Honestly, though. It’s such a fluid thing. And at the end of the world, who cares anymore? We’re still humans who need love and relationships. So what if you realize you’re into girls too. We’re both still so young, figuring things out.”

Ofelia had a point. There was no doubt that Elyza was insanely attractive, and Alicia was so intrigued by her. That didn’t necessarily equate to anything romantic, but… maybe someday.

Alicia shook the thought out of her right away. No. Survival was the key right now. Even though she was begging for good relationships and couldn’t ignore the way her stomach did turns when Elyza winked at her or made a flirty comment, that wasn’t the point right now.

“That was surprisingly thoughtful.”

“I can be,” Ofelia joked, bumping her hip against Alicia’s. “But maybe you should stop hating her eventually and give her a chance. She seems pretty smitten already.”

“She’s not. Probably hasn’t gotten any in awhile because she’s been too busy hunting walkers.”

It came out harsher than she wanted it to, and though she’d expressed that out loud, internally, she was secretly hoping just a little bit that Ofelia was right, that Elyza was in fact, smitten.

“I don’t hate her,” Alicia muttered.  

“Ah, so maybe there is hope.”

“Please stop trying to ship me and Elyza.”

Ofelia just laughed.

“I give it two months before the sexual tension chokes you both to death.”

“Ofelia!”

“Jokes, Clark. Jokes. Breathe,” Ofelia replied, bumping her hip against Alicia’s again.

Alicia only rolled her eyes and said, “I’m going inside.”

Alicia walked away to the sound of Ofelia just laughing again.

No. Survival first. Worrying about relationships came a distant second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos, comments, etc if you are so inclined.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> next stop san diego. alicia makes a friend on the radio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so super fun fact: I started writing this chapter before FTWD premiered on Sunday and already had in my head that they'd go to San Diego, see how things were, and then go to Hawaii if that didn't work. so basically what I'm saying is: AMC, we seem to be on the same wavelength, how about you hire me and we make Elyza Lex and Alicia Clark a real, canon couple? but anyway, here's the next chapter. glad you all are enjoying so far. they're so so fun to write.

Elyza had seen the city burning behind her eyes all night as she tried to sleep, and she could see it in her mind now even as she was surrounded by open water.

Strand had hurriedly let sail around sunset after a few explosions along the LA skyline had sent them into a frenzy.

_It’s mob rule on land,_ Travis had said.

_What makes you think it’ll be any better at sea?_ he’d also said.

Elyza couldn’t decide if she’d rather be engulfed by flames or water.

Neither, hopefully.

“So where are we headed anyway?” she spoke up, lounging in the main control room with Strand and Daniel.

“San Diego first. If that doesn’t work, this boat can reach Hawaii. Seems like the infected can float but I don’t see how they could beat us in a four to five day journey there.”

“You really think it’ll be any better?” Daniel questioned.

Elyza shrugged. “Impossible to tell at this point. It’s not like internet and phone services are available with all of LA falling apart. And we can’t exactly get that at sea.”

“And what if it turns out the whole state has fallen apart?” Daniel asked.

Strand stared out the window into the distance, stoic as ever (he’d only raised his voice once as they’d gotten into the boat and Elyza had made the mistake of trying to touch one of the buttons on its control panel).

“We figure it out as we go,” he replied.

They heard footsteps on the stairs, and the trio turned to see Travis climbing the stairs to join them.

“Elyza,” he greeted in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

For as much as the guy had stood up for her in joining them, Elyza found very quickly that he was also very awkward. And that there was some mad tension between he and his son.

Elyza smirked, grabbing the bottle of whiskey Strand had set out for the three of them and pouring a glass. “Always fit in better as one of the boys, mate.”

Travis nodded awkwardly, no doubt remembering yesterday when Elyza had confidently announced where her sexual preferences lie.

“Understood.”

Strand looked up from a map that lay flat on the table and said, “It’ll be about four or five days to the Hawaiian Islands.”

“Surely it’s isolated enough that even if there’s infected there, we can control it. If San Diego doesn’t work,” Travis answered.

San Diego. It was maybe close enough that her people could be there. Ricky, Marye, Lindsay and Rob could have been anywhere, but Elyza couldn’t help but hold out just a little bit of hope that maybe she would find them there.

Or find them somewhere.

She couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if the five of them had stayed in Melbourne. She wondered what Abby and Marcus were up to. She wondered if they were safe. She wondered if there were undead people trying to eat each other on the other side of the world.

And the worst part was that she had no way of knowing. Maybe never would.

“Worth a shot,” Elyza replied, taking a sip of the whiskey in her glass and peering out of the room to the rest of the boat below.

She saw Alicia and Nick sitting below, Nick sprawled out on the seats along the wall of the yacht, peering out onto the horizon, Alicia sitting beside him, knees curled into her chest.

She watched as she rucked up the sleeve of her shirt, extending the underside of her forearm to Nick, who took it and nodded solemnly, a finger running over something that looked like a tattoo near her wrist.

It looked to be a heavy conversation, whatever it was, and Elyza tried to ignore the ache in her chest that she felt as Alicia recoiled her arm, her and Nick seeming to fall into silence, both staring out into the sea.

Probably thinking about those they’d lost.

It seemed that they knew all too well, just like Elyza, that love was weakness.

Elyza desperately tried to ignore the small part in her brain that was wanting her to show Alicia (and herself) that maybe it wasn’t.

\--

Alicia and Nick had fallen into silence as they stared out into the ocean, listening to the waves slap against the side of the yacht. Alicia had shown him her tattoo for Matt in a moment of weakness, and her brother had just taken it all in stride.

Kind of like the old Nick.

Before their father died, before Nick started using, he’d been the protective big brother. Eventually, the roles had had to reverse. But in the face of a whole new scary world that was falling apart, they both reveled in the sense of familiarity, even in silence.

“So Elyza, huh?” he finally spoke up.

Alicia rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Why does everyone keep asking me about this?”

“Because you’re the reason she ended up with us. How did that even happen?”

“Saved my life.” Alicia shrugged, as if to downplay the significance of what Elyza had done (no need to give anyone any more fodder to tease her). “Shot a walker coming at me.”

“She’s hot.”

“She’s gay, Nick.”

“I know. That’s why I’m telling you,” Nick quipped.

“Kind of a dick move to be joking about people’s sexual orientations, Nick,” she replied defensively, because she honestly didn’t know what else to say.

“You know that’s not how I meant it,” he reasoned.

“Well then cut the jokes.”

“I’m just saying. It’s 2014. Times are changing. And it probably matters way less in the middle of the apocalypse.”

“You do understand that I lost Matt only about a month ago, right? And why is everyone suddenly dead set on setting me up with a stranger?” Alicia snapped.

First Ofelia and now Nick was way too keen on her and Elyza hooking up. Was the tension really that intense already? Did Elyza really drool over her?

Surely not. Ofelia and Nick were probably just bored and needed to make their own reality TV.

“I’m sorry,” Nick mumbled, trailing off.

They sat in silence again for a few minutes.

“I’m just trying to keep the humor up,” he continued after a moment. “This isn’t exactly how I thought I’d be spending my time on a fancy boat—running from zombies.”

“Pretty messed up.”

“Can’t imagine how Chris feels.”

“Well, on some level, we can relate.”

Nick shook his head.

“Yeah, but mom didn’t shoot dad.”

Alicia closed her eyes tightly, the sound of the gunshot from early yesterday still ringing in her eyes.

“Someone had to do it. Mom would have had to do it if Travis hadn’t.”

“Yeah…Where do you think we’ll end up?”

“On land,” Alicia quipped.

“Okay, smartass.”

She sighed, staring into the distance where she could barely see land as they hugged the Californian coast moving south.

“I don’t know, Nick. Hopefully a place where death isn’t knocking on the door every five minutes.”

\--

Alicia had eventually convinced Travis and Strand to let her sit with the radio in the event that anything or anyone came up. All she’d heard so far was from the Coast Guard—that there was nothing they could do, that they were essentially on their own.

Fine. Completely fine.

She’d been sitting in one of the rooms in the yacht’s cabin for a couple hours now, occasionally picking up music as she scanned through, laying back on one of the beds and wondering again how in the hell they’d gotten here.

They’d been at sea for about a day now, no doubt about to reach San Diego and see what conditions were like there.

But Alicia wasn’t holding out much hope. Strand and Daniel had both been discussing earlier at dinner (which included an eel… a fucking _eel_ ) that that was there they were headed; otherwise, they’d go to Hawaii.

But she couldn’t really see how it would be better. Los Angeles had literally gone up in flames in the blink of an eye, and as much as she wanted to hold out hope that everything would be fine, that they’d find a way to survive among the hordes of infected, watching in horror as Chris angrily dumped his mother’s body off the side of the boat earlier that morning had certainly put a damper on that.

Elyza had been watching her the whole time, obviously noting the clench of Alicia’s jaw and the pained look on her face when she came up to her just a few minutes after and had asked if she was okay.

She’d just shrugged her off and told her she’d wanted to be alone.

Hours later, she’d still barely spoken to the girl, save from a few confident smiles Elyza had shot her way during dinner when she made a joke.

She also couldn’t help but wish the blonde was here with her right now instead of traipsing around trying to be Strand’s lackey.

She also couldn’t figure out why out of everyone on the boat, Elyza was the one she wanted around right now, Elyza was the one she was willing to trust the most right now.

_She likes you._

The teasing sound of Ofelia’s voice from the day before came back to her mind once again.

No. And so what if she did? It’s not Alicia was going to be into Elyza like that. Objectively, the blonde was very attractive, sure, but…

Her train of thought was abruptly halted when she absent-mindedly turned the dial of the radio only to hear a male voice calling out somewhat frantically.

“Hello? Hello?”

Alicia paused, holding the receiver in her hand about to reply when something stopped her. There was no telling who was on the other side of the signal. Could be good. Could be bad.

But she’d been sitting here for hours, and she was _bored._

“Hello?”

“We’re in a boat not too far off the coast of LA,” the voice responded. “Where are you?”

Alicia didn’t even know, to be honest. Somewhere along the coast, close to San Diego, probably. But then again, telling a stranger this information in a world where everything was falling to pieces didn’t seem too wise.

(Then again, letting Elyza Lex into her life and onto their yacht had been quite the risky move as well.)

“Shy. Okay. Don’t really see why in times like these.”

Alicia smirked at the response, still unwilling to answer.

“You gonna talk or am I just going to have to find another anonymous girl to help me get off my sinking ship?”

_Sinking._ She perked up a little bit at that, her survival mode instantly kicking into gear. Since they’d gotten into the water, she’d been desperate to save whoever she could.

_You can’t save everyone._

Her own words to Chris replayed in her mind once again.

But that couldn’t stop her from trying.

“You’re sinking? How can we help?”

“You can start by telling me your name.”

Alicia rolled her eyes. The boy on the other end seemed way too calm to be sinking rapidly.

“I don’t see how that’s relevant.”

“I’m Jack. And I need your help.”

“Jack? On a sinking boat? Sounds a little too James Cameron for me,” Alicia quipped.

“Unless you tell me your name is Rose, I think we’ll be good.”

Alicia smiled and replied, “Alicia. My name’s Alicia.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> alicia makes a mistake. the group gets so company. things don't go as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: it isn't too bad, but things get violent at the end of the chapter.

Alicia had been talking to Jack for around twenty minutes—his boat with his brother and sister-in-law was slowly taking on water, and though she hadn’t shared their location with him, it seemed that he was only a few miles away from the Abigail.

Throughout it all he seemed to be eerily calm, talking to Alicia about how he’d lost his girlfriend since the start of everything, and she’d mentioned how she’d lost Matt briefly, all while trailing her fingers over the tattoo on her forearm.

It almost felt normal for a minute. And it was the first time the world felt somewhat calm and normal in a month.

(Well, aside from meeting Elyza. But she didn’t need to let the girl get into her head any more.)

(And besides—meeting Elyza was different from this Jack guy completely. Elyza was a firecracker set off in the middle of a tranquil day. Elyza was the opposite of normal. The opposite of calm… But Alicia also knew that she almost liked that better than familiar and normal.)

“I see a boat in the distance—any chance that might be you guys?”

Alicia peered out the window up onto the horizon, eyes darting around as she saw a dot slowly gaining in size to her north.

“Yeah,” she answered reluctantly. “Yeah, I think I see you.”

Silence on the other end.

“Look, I can… I can try to see if we can come to you,” she continued.

 _You can’t save everyone._ She’d said it to Chris herself.

But she’d saved Elyza (no, Elyza had saved her—they needed Elyza more than she needed them, but she still felt like being with a group was better for someone than being alone). And she was going to try and save as many as she could.

To somehow make up for those she’d lost.

It was at that moment that the door opened, revealing a worried looking Elyza.

“Alicia? There’s a boat not too far—“

“Who’s that?” Jack asked at the sound of the Australian’s voice faintly cracking over the radio.

Elyza shot Alicia a disapproving look, and she quickly strode across the room to where Alicia sat on the bed with the radio in hand.

“Who the hell are you talking to?”

“No one,” Alicia replied too quickly and too defensively, trying to shield the receiver with her body.

“What’s going on?” Jack asked as he no doubt was listening to the two girls arguing.

“Gimme that,” Elyza grumbled, snatching the receiver out of Alicia’s hand, pressing down to speak to the voice on the other end.

“Who the hell are you?” Elyza growled.

“Who the hell are you?” it shot back.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, guys,” Alicia grumbled, grabbing the receiver back from Elyza’s hand. “Jack, this is Elyza.”

“Two pretty girls possibly coming to my rescue. My lucky day,” the voice crackled over the radio again.

Elyza rolled her eyes, leaning in toward the radio to respond to Jack and growling, “Sorry, mate. You’re not exactly my type.”

With that, Elyza reached around Alicia and flicked the power button of the radio, disconnecting Jack.

“Elyza, what are you doing?”

“I came here to tell you that there’s a boat on the horizon, and we’re not sure what’s going on.”

Alicia remained silent. She knew any mention of the possibility that Jack was on that boat would only make Elyza angrier.

It didn’t take long for the blonde to pick apart Alicia’s silence.

“That boy you were just talking to better not be on that boat.”

“They’re sinking!” Alicia tried to reason.

She knew they couldn’t save everyone. She knew that.

But it didn’t stop her from wanting to try.

She wouldn’t let this world break her.

“You don’t know him!”

“Two days ago, I didn’t know you either!” Alicia yelled back.

Elyza closed her mouth and gritted her teeth at Alicia’s argument. Alicia knew that she had a point, but she also knew that Elyza would quickly come back with something to counter it.

“I didn’t need your saving,” Elyza snapped.

“I’m well aware that we need you more than you need us, but here you are. You chose to stay.”

“And I proved myself.”

“By flirting with me over dead bodies?”

“By saving you.”

Alicia paused, staring into the blonde’s fiery eyes, the silence between them quickly wrapping them up as their voices had gotten much louder as they’d argued.

“Why can’t you try to see the good in people and give Jack the benefit of the doubt?” Alicia asked, barely above a whisper now.

“Why can’t you try to see the good in me?”

Alicia stared back at Elyza, who was clenching her jaw as if she’d said something she didn’t mean to let slip. There was a barely there vulnerability in her eyes.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Surely Elyza didn’t think since she joined them a couple days ago that Alicia saw no good in her.

“Nothing,” Elyza mumbled.

“Elyza.”

“Alicia, drop it,” she groaned, turning toward the door to walk back out to the upper deck.

“Elyza—,” Alicia called out once more.

Elyza whirled around and cut her off, pointing a finger at Alicia’s chest. “Ever since I’ve gotten on this damn boat you act like you want me here one minute and the next like you don’t. So which is it, princess? I’d really—“

“I said,” Alicia interrupted, not meeting Elyza’s eyes, gritting her teeth. “I said don’t call me… that name.”

She glanced up briefly when Elyza didn’t immediately reply, and Alicia could see the gears turning in her mind.

“That’s something your dad used to call you, isn’t it?”

Alicia didn’t bother to confirm. She knew her face said it all. He always bugged Nick by calling him by his full name, and he had called Alicia “princess” since she was four years old and had dressed up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast for Halloween.

“This really isn’t the time for these conversations.”

Elyza just shook her head. “Well, if these guys get too close we might not be having any more conversations depending on their intentions.”

Alicia turned back to the radio, glaring at Elyza all the while and flipped the switch back on.

“Look, I know, we can’t save everyone, but—“

“Alicia, we need to go tell Strand what we know about these people.”

“But—“

Elyza sighed and cut her off, looking at her pleadingly. “Just to be safe, Alicia. Please.”

She knew Elyza was right. She knew that their own safety had to come before saving others in such a cruel world.

She just wasn’t sure she could get used to it.

She nodded and finally muttered, “Okay.”

Elyza nodded in silent thank you, breathing out heavily and giving Alicia a tight smile.

“For the record, I do want you here,” Alicia blurted out suddenly.

She didn’t really know what possessed her to say it. But Alicia wanted to believe that maybe Elyza needed to hear it.

The look of surprise (and something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on) she got in return told her that maybe she was right.

The two paused, blue and green locked on each other with an awkward silence growing between them before a crackle of static on the radio broke their trance.

“Alicia? Are you still there?”

It was Jack.

Elyza gave Alicia a warning look, shaking her head as Alicia reached for the receiver.

“Jack?”

Alicia saw Elyza staring at her, begging her silently to drop the receiver and just go upstairs with her to talk to everyone else, to figure out whether or not Jack and his boat were a threat. But Alicia pressed down on the receiver anyway, opening her mouth to speak.

Looking at Elyza intently as she spoke, she answered, “I don’t think we’ll be able to come get you.”

Elyza stared back, letting out a breath she must not have realized she’d been holding and nodded again in thanks.

“It’s okay, Alicia,” Jack replied. “I understand. I got you.”

 _I got you,_ Alicia mouthed to Elyza, who had bristled as Jack continued to speak.

Both of their hearts stopped at what he said next.

“I’ll see you soon.”

\--

Madison peered through binoculars, scanning the horizon for anything—people, land, walkers. The Californian coast was still in view to their left. She pivoted next to Travis and looked across to the port side of the yacht, spotting a much smaller motor boat approaching them quickly.

She nudged Travis out of his own thoughts as he stared in the opposite direction, the boat approaching closer and closer until they could hear more than see it.

“What the hell is that?”

“Someone’s looking for company, it looks like,” Travis replied, a tone of dread filling his voice.

Strand, who stood not far from them, nursing a glass of scotch, only sighed and tiredly answered, “Ignore it. We’re going to keep moving away from it. We’ll pick up speed if we need to. I’m not sure they could keep up with us.”

Chris and Nick appeared from inside, having spotted the boat themselves. Not hearing Strand’s request to ignore them, the two began pointing at the boat and whispering to each other. There were three passengers on the boat, and at this point they were close enough that they couldn’t quite make out their faces but could see them waving.

“They look like they need help,” Chris announced, he and Nick waving back.

“What part of ignore them did you not understand, boy?” Strand snapped, stepping in front of both boys and trying to block their waving arms.

“We can’t just leave them,” Nick argued. “Seriously, they look like they’re in danger.”

“The only people who will be in danger will be us if we let a bunch of strangers continue to try to follow us around.”

The motorboat was rounding to the back of the Abigail to the large swim platform at the stern.

“Nick, maybe Victor has a point.”

“I’m going to back to the control room,” Strand announced. “We are getting out of here.”

“Strand, wait,” Travis called, cutting him off. “There’s only three of them. Surely if they mean any harm we can take them.”

The boat was now following closely as the Abigail sailed along, keeping even with the back of the boat.

“Travis, maybe—“

“We don’t bring them on the boat, okay?” he replied, voice rising in agitation.

“We’re leaving,” Strand answered sternly.

“Let’s just talk to them. Maybe we can work together.”

“I don’t know if you’ve realized this, but the enemy at sea isn’t so much the infected as it is the walkers.”

“Let’s just see. We had no problem picking up Elyza.”

Daniel, who’d slipped outside when he heard Chris and Nick shouting and waving to the other boat, took his turn to speak up. “Elyza has proved herself to be valuable. She saved Alicia and has done everything she can to help so far. We know nothing of these people.”

“Well then we should find out,” Travis reasoned.

The three people on the boat stared up at all of them arguing on the upper deck, seemingly waiting patiently to be acknowledged.

Madison looked away from Travis to see the boat right on their heels, the trio looking up at them.

“Well I think it might be too late to go now.”

At that moment, the group heard a clamoring coming from the stairs, Elyza and Alicia appearing at the top.

Elyza peered down where everyone else was looking to see the boat hanging closely.

“There’s three of them,” she whispered to Alicia.

“Two guys and a girl,” Alicia mumbled back. “Jack, his brother and sister-in-law.”

Elyza grimaced, her eyes narrowing as she continued to stare, studying the boat and its passengers.

“What’s wrong?” Alicia asked, noticing the girl tensing next to her.

“But their boat…You said it was sinking.”

Everyone else began milling about the boat, Daniel having gone inside only to reappear with a gun at the ready. He gently tossed a couple of other firearms to Strand and Nick.

“Just in case,” he commented, standing protectively in front of Ofelia.

The group made their way down to the lower deck, coming face to face with one of the passengers who stood at the bow of the small motorboat, and balancing carefully, he jumped onto the platform of the Abigail, hands help up in surrender.

Daniel cocked his gun.

“We don’t mean any harm. Just want some help,” said the boy with sandy blonde hair who’d jumped onto the boat.

Elyza and Alicia exchanged glances—they knew that voice. Jack.

“Something’s not right here,” Elyza whispered to Alicia.

The blonde stepped forward, glaring at Jack, puffing out her chest and looking downright murderous.

“Well then what are you after here, mate?”

“Lex, stand down,” Strand growled as Elyza walked closer to Jack until she was only inches from him.

Elyza’s glare only left his eyes to glance at the two in the boat who just stared ahead blankly.

“You’re one of the radio girls,” Jack commented.

The rest of the group looked at each other in confusion, a few of them mouthing, _radio girl?_ to each other.

Elyza tilted her head up, staring Jack down once again.

“You’re Jack, I see. Maybe you should pull a Titanic and let go, bud.”

Jack smirked and threw up his hands in surrender once again. “It’s the end of the world, guys. Shouldn’t we be working together?”

“We don’t know you,” Daniel answered, still pointing the gun toward them.

“Where are you from?” Madison asked. “Where are you going? Do you need help?”

Alicia finally stepped forward next to Elyza and spoke up, glaring at Jack with the same intensity as the girl next to her.

Something was not right here at all.

“I thought you said your boat was sinking,” she said, nodding to the boat, which seemed in perfectly fine condition.

Jack grinned and answered quietly, “Well how else can you convince a stranger to take pity on you and let them on your boat?”

Alicia gulped.

No, something was not right. Nothing was right.

She was wrong.

She’d tried to save someone, and it was about to backfire.

Alicia had just put herself and everyone with her in danger because she wanted to see the good in people.

_How blind could she be?_

Without another word, Jack lunged forward, wrapping Alicia in his arms and whirling her around, pulling a knife and holding the blade against her throat.

Her heart pounded against the metal of the knife, struggling against Jack’s tight hold as she felt his breath on her face as he held her entirely too close and too hard.

_This was all her fault._

“Told you I got you,” he whispered in her ear, and Alicia looked pleadingly at Elyza to do something, anything.

Elyza stood stock still, the fire in her eyes only glowing brighter if that was at all possible, the calm ocean eyes turning dark and stormy.

“Don’t you dare hurt her,” Elyza ground out.

“ALICIA!” yelled Madison, as Travis held her back from reaching toward her daughter.

“If you so much as move a millimeter closer to her neck with that knife, I will end you in ways you never thought possible,” Elyza continued, holding her hands up.

“I’d like to see you try,” Jack answered.

“Take me instead,” Elyza muttered. “Don’t take her from her family.”

Alicia’s eyes began to fill with tears, and she kept swallowing the lump in her throat over and over trying to stop it.

Elyza, who she’d only met two days ago, was willing to take her place.

Elyza, who she’d been arguing with nonstop all day.

Elyza, who’d already saved her life once.

She looked behind Elyza to see Daniel not too far off her flank, looking through the scope of his rifle.

“What are you waiting for? Just shoot him,” Travis begged, his voice as he held tightly to Madison, both of them hanging by threads to any strength they had left.

“I can’t get a clean shot,” Daniel shot back quickly.

The two in the boat behind Jack moved quickly, both drawing guns and firing at the group, Daniel aiming and hitting one of them in the stomach only for the other to take a shot and hit him in the thigh. Daniel fell to the ground, wincing in pain, sliding the gun to Travis, who was now desperately trying to shield both Madison and Chris.

Travis ducked behind a small wall, reaching around and firing, shoving Chris further inside for safety. Madison jumped out as Jack yanked Alicia backward toward the motorboat.

“Alicia!” she cried, running and screaming in horror toward her daughter, only for Jack to press tighter around Alicia’s neck, choking her and holding her still as he reached for a gun in his pocket. With his free hand, he cocked and pulled the trigger, hitting Madison in the shoulder.

“Mom!” Alicia tried to yell, but her voice came out in a strangled cry as Jack cut off her air supply, Elyza watching in horror and standing still with her arms up in surrender, unwilling to wave.

Ofelia was ushered inside by Strand, who ran inside as well, releasing bullets from his gun as he did so.

Nick was out for blood. He watched as his mother fell to the deck and pulled his gun, firing without ceasing at the two in the boat, who were now ducking for cover.

Jack pushed Alicia out of his arms suddenly, the girl gasping for breath, Elyza catching her as he shoved her away to engage Nick.

The other two jumped on the boat, and Nick released his final bullet, hitting Jack’s brother square in the chest. Jack lunged at him, pulling his knife but Nick held his arm, pushing it away.

Without warning, the third boat member—who Alicia assumed to be Jack’s sister-in-law, smacked Nick in the back of the head with her pistol, knocking him to the ground and kicking him relentlessly as her husband lay bleeding out on the deck.

Jack pulled Alicia to him again, holding the blade against her neck once more.

“You come with us or the pretty girl gets shot.”

Elyza stared back at Jack, and then at Alicia. She was shaking her head as if she knew the blonde was plotting some way to get Jack to let go of her, to get them out of here.

But Elyza never got to execute the plan.

The next thing she knew, the world around her went dark.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos, comments, thoughts, emotions?


End file.
